Letters

Miliband should ignore Blair's advice

'There was no protest from Tony Blair when Gordon Brown lurched extremely left to bail out the banks'. Photograph: Express-Times/Landov/Barcroft

Ken Livingstone's refreshing evidence-based proposals for solving our economic problems (Throw out these myths, 12 April) put Tony Blair's label-loaded left-, right-, middle-ground fixations firmly in the shade (Report, 16 April). The problem Blair has in his "lurching to the left" hang ups is that the historical evidence and virtually all informed current analysis (bar Cameron and Osborne's) point to the state having to intervene. There was no protest from Blair when Gordon Brown lurched extremely left to bail out the banks.

Blair correctly calls on us to seek "answers" with open minds. Why therefore does he prejudge left-leaning measures when the heart of the problem lies in extreme rightwing-induced deregulated globalised markets unleashed upon the world with the blessings of Reagan and Thatcher in the mid 80s? If we cannot follow the correct road because it points left, we may well end up with nothing left.Nigel de GruchyOrpington, Kent

• What angered me in Tony Blair's recent swipe at Ed Miliband was his assertion that "Labour should be very robust in knocking down the notion that it 'created' the crisis", arguing that the cyclically adjusted current budget balance in 2007-2008 was under 1% of GDP and that over Labour's 13 years the debt-to-GDB ratio was better than the Conservatives' record from 1979-1997. Although conceding that "a tightening around 2005 would have been more prudent", this, he rightly asserts, would have paled into insignificance when set against "the financial tsunami that occurred globally".

But when has Blair's voice been heard in defence of his own record? Or Gordon Brown's? As the opinion polls persistently show, the Tories have successfully established in voters' minds that the "mess" is entirely the result of Labour's economic incompetence. "Not fit to be trusted with the economy" will be central to Tory electoral strategy in 2015. Rather than adding to the scare-mongering about "Red Ed", Blair should be at the forefront in defending Labour's record, by challenging the now embedded Tory lies and distortions.Dr Brian AndersonLondon

• What is shameful about Labour's joining the attack on benefits is not that they meekly follow the proto-Tory Liam Byrne. It is that the party goes along with an insulting and manufactured view of the British citizen being touted by the media and market researchers – finally exposed by the rigorous YouGov-Cambridge survey (Big-state Britain? UK voters' sympathy for the poor, 15 April).

Nothing in the history of British attitude surveys gives authenticity to the recent finding of NatCen that more than 60% of the electorate support such savage cuts on the poor. Even under Thatcher, survey after survey found continuing support for social protection and public sectors. NatCen asked biased questions with prejudicial vocabulary. In such a highly charged atmosphere of sustained misinformation from the DWP, this is almost designed to come up with the answer the media so lasciviously seeks.

At last a respectable survey outfit has returned us to a respectful and humane reality that British people are more than ready to reverse the savagery of benefit cuts. Will a Labour party, still obsessively triangulating , know what to do with these findings? Not if they leave it to briefings from Byrne.Saville KushnerUniversity of Auckland, Barry KushnerLiverpool Labour councillor

• Ed Miliband's focus is society, more equality, fairness, justice and accountability – things we should all want. Thatcher and Blair produced two decades of bland politics, representing themselves rather than their people. Miliband is right to want change, to forge real politics so people have an honest choice. Blair should stick to what he's good at: earning millions on the US lecture circuit and building his property portfolio.Derek MarksDundee

• Blair warns Labour not to return to its leftwing past. But I recall the Blair who admired leftwing John Smith, the trade unionist John Prescott, the Jack Straw who was a radical student leader. Once in power they abandoned their socialist principles and ended up pursuing money and status. Labour needs genuine leftwing leaders who'll pursue greater equality and oppose neoliberalism.Bob HolmanGlasgow